Over 40 millimeters of rain has fallen in 12 hours and made conditions treacherous for the drivers, with Bruno Senna smashing into the wall after losing control of his Williams midway through the second session.

Two-time world champion and current title leader Fernando Alonso also lost his front wing after clipping the barriers.

"Unfortunately we didn't have a very productive day in the end," the 28-year-old Senna said in a Williams press release.

"The weather was poor weather with puddles on the track during second practice. On my second run, I aquaplaned on some deep water at the high speed Becketts section of the track and from that point I was a passenger until the car hit the wall.

"It was quite a heavy accident but I am ok. There is a lot of damage to the car but the Williams team will, I'm sure, do a great job of getting it back into shape for tomorrow (Saturday)."

Regulations limiting the number of wet and intermediate tires teams can use combined with the weather meant most of the action was restricted to the second half of the afternoon session.

"If there's too much standing water on track we can't go out, as we aquaplane pretty quickly," Vettel, who finished second in last year's race, told the sport's official website.

"I think Senna went off and it shows how quickly it can happen. It's a real shame for the fans sitting in the grandstands waiting for the cars to come out. I feel for them.

"We got in a bit of running in the end, but for us it's not so useful, as you can't really try anything in these conditions. I think weather will be the most important factor in determining the rest of the weekend."

The teams will return to the track for practice and final qualifying Saturday ahead of Sunday's ninth grand prix of the year.